This classic nineteenth-century report
on cave archaeology bore the subtitle "A Search for evidence of man's antiquity
in the caverns of Central America." Besides the archaeology, it is an interesting
narrative of travel in the area at the time. Mayanist Eric Thompson's introduction
to the 1975 reprint is itself considered a classic in the field. The AMCS
reprint is a facsimile of the 1975 edition, with a new foreword by contemporary
Mayanist and cave archaeologist James Brady. Mercer's book has 74 illustrations,
and the Introduction and Foreword add 10 more.